I LOVE THIS PROJECT!!! This has definitely been my favorite project that I've taught so far this year. I am just so proud of the 2nd graders and the beautiful artwork that they created for this project.

Because we live in Western NC, we are, as a community, always seeing and exploring and studying mountains and rivers. I thought it might be a nice change to discuss Eastern NC as well. We studied the east coast by designing and painting lighthouses!

Students began this project by drawing a three layer composition with oil pastels. The far background (the top of the paper) is the sky. Some students chose to draw the sun and clouds, others moon and stars, others birds and bugs. The midground (the middle of the paper) is the ocean. Some students drew calm seas, some drew boats, others drew aquatic wildlife. The foreground (the bottom of the paper) is the ground. Some students drew the beach, others, a field, a city, a boardwalk. I love how each and every student's three layers turned out so differently!

On a separate piece of paper, students also drew their own lighthouse. I showed the students a basic technique to draw them, but the students each made theirs very unique.

To make our artwork bright and colorful, we did layers of watercolor paints on top of the oil pastel. Because oil and water resist, the oil pastels and create a high contrast, colorful work of art.

To finish this project, students cut out and glued their lighthouse on their mid ground.

​These turned out sooooo awesome. I want to frame them and keep them forever...

3rd grade students have been studying biomes in science class. The major types of biomes are split up into five categories: aquatic, forests, desserts, grasslands, tundra. Later in the year 3rd graders will do a fish art project and for this project, we focused on rainforests.

​I introduced the students to the artwork by artist Henri Rousseau. Henri Rousseau was a post-impressionist painter in France. Although he did many types of paintings, he is well-known for his works of jungle animals. Here are a few images of his work:

After looking at and discussing Rousseau's artwork, 3rd graders began their own art work inspired by the rainforest.

​​Students began by creating a colorful border of repetitive shapes and colors using construction paper crayons to have an interesting border for their drawings. ​Next, each student selected a photograph of a rainforest animal and challenged themselves to do a realistic drawing of it. This was a tough drawing challenge and the students did an awesome job of showing perseverance. The students focused on the shapes, colors, and texture of the animal. They used colored pencils for this.

To fill in the background space, students really focused on using the style of Rousseau to create repetitive patterns of plants and leaves using many different shades of green. They used a contrasting color to fill in any 'empty space'.

​These drawings turned out amazing. I want to take them all home and hang them on my walls forever....

Do you know the amazing artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser? If the answer is 'no,' get on it! He is one of my absolutely favorite artists. An amazing man he was.

His artwork is known for his use of bright colors, repetitive patterns, abstractions, lines, concentric shapes and impactful images.For this project, we focused on the art elements and principles that I just listed above. We looked at his posters that he created and as a class discussed the power that we have as artists to influence others. Here are a few images of posters that were painted by Hundertwasser:

After looking at these posters (and much more of his artwork) the students were assigned partners to design a poster with. They began by conversing and coming to agreement of a theme. After they chose a theme, they began brainstorming different slogans they could use on their posters and drawing sketches. I really pushed them to collaborate and work together on this project.

Once the students agreed on theme and drawing, they drew their images with pencil on a large poster board. They worked as a team using oil pastels to outline their drawings and filled in with watercolor paints.

I really urged the students to challenge themselves to create art in the style of Hundertwasser rather than trying to create art that they think of as 'pretty' or 'nice' or how they usually create art. It really challenges students and helps them grow as artists when they try new styles and ideas.

Again, the focus of this project was:bright colorsconcentric shapesrepeating patternsabstract art​lines​images that influence the viewer

The end results are truly amazing. I am so proud of the 5th graders. It was a joy to watch the students start with brainstorming themes, create slogans, draw sketches, draw their image with pencil, and finish up their colorful masterpieces.

Click the thumbnails below to see the finished posters!

After the students were finished, I had them each fill out a worksheet with questions asking:1. What is the theme of your art?2. Why is this topic important to you?3. What did you learn while doing this project?4. What was your favorite part of this and why?5. What was the most difficult part? Why? What did you do to resolve this difficulty?

The answers were quite insightful. Many of the students favorite part was using oil pastels. Many loved working with a partner and getting to know someone that they would not have chosen to work with otherwise. Some enjoyed learning about Hundertwasser's art.

As for the most difficult part, a large majority of the students thought it was working with a partner to create art. Some felt that it was hard to be accepting of other's ideas or to not be in control or to just physically share a space. Most worked through this by being more open-minded and getting to know the person better. It made me very proud to read how students chose to work through their challenges.